


My Promise to You

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Chapter 115, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Romance, Spoiler Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-12
Updated: 2019-03-12
Packaged: 2019-11-15 22:58:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18082559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Levi is glad that he's finally going to die.





	My Promise to You

**Author's Note:**

> First SNK fanfic ayyyy. Hello, lovelies!!

“Levi! Holy shit, are you alive?”

 _Is that…Hange?_ Levi wonders. The world is blurry through his left eye, but there’s nothing to be seen through the ruined mess of his right one. He’s seen lots of injuries from the thunder spears, but to actually feel what it’s like—and because of his own stupid mistake at that…

There’s shrapnel in his face. He feels it when Hange accidentally presses her arm against it as she picks him up, pushing it a little deeper into his cheek. But he’s too tired, too sore, to make noise.

Darkness pulses at the edge of his vision, encroaching over the pale blue sky. _This may be the last I ever see it. I’m sorry, Erwin._ He wants to cry, but he can’t. _I’m sorry. I never got to fulfil my promise to you._

The world tilts strangely, and then he’s surrounded by darkness.

 

* * *

 

There’s more peace in this darkness than he’s ever had in a lifetime. As he drifts, he thinks, _I could get used to this._ There’s been more than his fair share of pain and death and misery in his life. It’s nice to be able to finally let go.

 

* * *

 

“I’m sorry, Levi, but it’s not your time yet.”

The darkness ripples around Levi like water, splitting down the middle to let a man walk through. A strange, ethereal glow surrounds his body, casting his face into shadow. But Levi knows, instinctively, exactly who it is.

Four years hasn’t been enough time to dull the memory of Erwin Smith, to carve the minute details of his appearance from the form Levi recalls in his darkest moments. He looks the same as he did before the suicide charge, before the titan gnawed his arm off. Alive, whole.

The pain this ghost stirs up is an old one, unrelated to Levi’s current injuries. It’s the pain that hits him in the middle of the night when the world is quiet, when there’s nothing to distract him from the memories of time and people long passed. Before Erwin, there was never a time in Levi’s life that he’d missed; everything too painful and bitter and broken. But Erwin had always been a beacon of light and hope in a world that seemed hell-bent on tearing itself to shreds. He’s one of the few people Levi’s soul has ever cried for, one of the few people he ever truly missed.

And now Erwin’s standing right in front of him.

“Erwin,” he whispers through numb lips.

Erwin steps forward and clasps Levi’s face in his hands, careful of the shrapnel, but blood runs over his fingers anyway. Not that he pays much attention to it.

Levi grasps his wrists. “I don’t want to go back. It hurts.”

“I know it hurts.” There’s sympathy and agony swirling in those blue eyes that Levi missed so much. “And I don’t want you to go, but you must. There’s still work for you to do.”

“The Beast Titan.” The words are hollow, empty. “I still need to fulfil my promise to you. But Erwin, look at me.” Only his ring finger, pinkie finger, and thumb of his right hand are able to hold onto Erwin, two of his fingers blasted off. Not to mention he sees Erwin with only one eye. “What good could I possibly be now? I’m a mess. I failed you. I can’t kill him like this.”

“You haven’t failed, Levi,” Erwin says firmly. “And there’s more ways to bring someone down than killing them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Speak to Eren Jaeger,” says Erwin. “ _Really_ speak to him. Don’t let his new cold persona throw you off. Not everything about him is as it seems. Work with him, and you’ll bring the Beast Titan down. In fact, I do believe he’s already working on it.”

That’s news to Levi. The last time he saw Eren was right after the destruction of Marley. After that, Hange sent him out into the forest to babysit Zeke. And look how that turned out.

He’s not sure he’s capable of being much help when he’s missing an eye and two fingers, but if Erwin says he can, then he can.

“Alright, I’ll speak to him,” he whispers. “But do I have to go back right now?”

Smiling as if Levi has handed him all the moon and the stars in the sky, Erwin leans in and presses his forehead to Levi’s. Breathes in the scent of Levi, his breath tickling over Levi’s skin.

“No, you don’t. Not for a little while. Let us…cherish what time we have together here, and I’ll see you again when it’s really time for you to die. I love you, Levi."

A tear trickles down Levi's cheek. "I love you, too."

 

* * *

 

It takes just over three months for Levi to get back on his feet, and from what he’s heard, the world has gone to complete trash in the meantime. Unsurprising.

Holding a cane in his left hand, he hobbles through the military base—he’s still getting used to walking, after being bed-ridden for so long—only to be stopped at the atrium by a pair of burly guards.

“Who are you?” one asks. “What is your business here?”

 _Must be the scar,_ Levi thinks, amused. _That’s why they don’t know who I am._

“I’m Levi,” he says, and watches their jaws drop. “And I’m here to see Eren Jaeger.”

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @tarkl0vishki.


End file.
